Oppressed By The Figures Of Beauty
by Ygraine
Summary: Jason isn't the only one lying about who he is.


**Title**: Oppressed By The Figures of Beauty.

**Rating**: T

**Author**: Ygraine

**Sum**: Jason isn't the only one who's lying about who he is.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the rights to Superman, they belong te D/C Comics, Bryan Singer... oh... those people. Standard Disclaimer and all... Also, the title, comes from the Leonard Cohen song Chelsea Hotel No. 2

**A/N**: Thanks to my Beta Janet, who corrected all my terrible grammer.

**Chapter One**

Every inch of his body was covered in sweat; the sheets tangled around his legs as though he had been running in his sleep... he sat up with a jolt, running his hands up and down his body to make sure he was intact and unharmed, and then he lay back on his bed with an audible thump. A nightmare, it had just been a nightmare. If only he could remember what it had been about.

Jason White was used to nightmares. He didn't know why. They were just confusing images of something that had happened a long time ago, something he couldn't quite remember... Sighing, he shook his head and sat up again, throwing the duvet off of him. There was no point trying to remember about it now. Getting dressed, he then made his way downstairs to where his mom was preparing breakfast, 'You're late again...' She said calmly, putting toast on the table. Narrowing his eyes in confusion, he looked at his watch; it was already half past eight. "But before you go, what are you wanting for your birthday? It's tomorrow, and I still don't know what to get you. No one does.'

He sighed and looked at his watch.. "Umm..."

"Think about this carefully, Jason..."

"Been thinking about a new music player?"

His mother smiled at him. "We will see what can be done. Oh, and your father will be making an appearance..."

"Dad? I thought he was away in England on business..."

His moms face became serious... "No... not Richard sweetheart I mean..." She didn't finish the sentence, she didn't need to.

"Oh... but my friends... they'll..."

"I'm sure that you can tear away from them for half an hour!" She said, smiling. "It's your birthday. He wants to see you."

Jason sighed and looked at his hands, twiddling his thumbs. "I suppose..."

"Good. Now, go, you're late for school!"

He jumped out his seat, stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth, bade goodbye his mother, and ran out the door as fast as he could, and started to make his way briskly up the road. It was his party the following night as well, and so far he wasn't too chuffed with the guest list. Yes, there were his friends, they're respective partners, but he knew that he had to get a few more people to come, otherwise it wouldn't be so much a party but a get together. And, of course, if just his regular friends attended, his mother wouldn't have any qualms about sitting down with them all to try to encourage them into a career in journalism, and that it really was the way forward. 'Computers now days will do so much, but you still need people to collect the news.'

Jason rolled his eyes and cringed inwardly at the thought of it. The problem wasn't people not wanting to go, quite the contrary. There were queues of people wanting to attend his birthday party. This should make him overjoyed, especially that a lot of them were girls and cheerleaders, but it didn't. It just made him not want to have a party even more.

Not very many people would not want to have an eighteenth birthday party. But Jason's mother was determined to organize one for him, and worse, she was going to try and make it 'fun.' In past experience, Jason knew that this was a bad thing and would unlikely be fun, far from it in fact. And the fact that his father was going to make an apperence did not improve things. Even though he and Superman got along, there was a mutual agreement between them that they would try and stay out of each others way so that Jason could have a normal life. But of course, it was Superman that made Jason so involuntarily popular. His mother was Lois Lane, so everyone in school knew Jason had a connection with the superhero. Thankfully, they didn't know how close said connection actually _was_.

Sighing to himself, he looked at his watch again; he was late. Very late... it was times like this when he wished he could fly. But he couldn't. The best he could do was hover off the ground and go a few meters, and it normally ended in him landing in a painful position... and also a few old ladies had given him a few weary glances, and he was sure he had been the cause of people being committed into an institution. Instead he walked briskly towards the school gates into the grounds where he got a glare from the principal, tapping his watch angrily, Jason just ignored him and went through the main door. He went to the reception to sign in, as he had missed registration, where he saw a girl sitting on the seats. The vice principal was there speaking to her. He smiled and the new girl, at least Jason presumed she was new, smiled back before the vice principal looked at her watch and then pointed in the other direction.

"Go to class! Why are you late again?"

Jason swallowed and adjusted his bag, "Because I got here after the bell went." He said simply, shrugging slightly and smirked at the new girl who gave a small amused smile.

Mrs. Cummings was not impressed. Her eyes widened. "That will be enough of your cheek, thank you Mr White! Now what are you still doing standing here?" He opened his mouth to reply. "No, in fact don't answer that. Just go!" With an annoyed grunt, Mrs. Cummings returned to the new girl who, Jason saw, was doing her best to refrain from laughing and trying to keep a straight face. He winked at her and saw a genuine smile cross her features, and he made his way to English.

x

"Jay... Jay!"

Jason turned around and saw his friend Timothy chasing after him. "Hey, I was just going to eat my lunch, what is it?"

Tim brushed his long Blonde hair out of his eyes and took a deep breath. Surely he hadn't been running for that long? "What time should I come by your house tomorrow? I promised your mom I would help her set it up."

"Oh." He had? "Um, around half seven?" He looked up over Tim's head and saw the new girl, sitting on a bench, having a sandwich, reading a book about Mozart; she was on her own... Jason bit his lip and debated to himself whether he should go and introduce himself.

"Hey, Jason... Earth to Jason!"

"Huh? Oh sorry, what were you saying?"

"What do you want for your birthday? I'm going into the city after school to get it." Jason wasn't listening... he was watching her tuck her chestnut hair behing an ear, and her bright green eyes met his. Some girls walked up to her... Jason immediately recognized them as Ryan Murphey, Laurel Stevenson, and Erica Brown. "Jason!" Tim called again. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"Oh, oh use your imagination." And then he started to walk away Ryan had sat next to the new girl and was flipping through the book on Mozart. Jason focused on listening to what they were saying.

_"You know, no one listens to this classical music anymore. Why don't you come to the canteen and sit with us? Laurel has her MP3 player, I'm sure that she'll let you listen to some good music..."_

_"No, thank you" _ the new girl said. _I'm quite happy here." _Her eyes caught Jason's, and they widened pleadingly. "I was just waiting for him to arrive." She nodded at Jason, and her eyes widened again, telling him to play along. He was close now and could easily hear what they were saying...

Ryan turned around frowning that she had just been turned down by, what she would have called a 'loser.' But when she saw Jason, her eyes widened, and she jumped up and flung her arms around his neck. The new girls face fell, and she looked somewhat embarrassed and somewhat angry at Jason or herself, he didn't know.

"Ryan... so nice to see you." He said, voice dripping with sarcastic humour. "Still on the squad, I see?" She took a step back and did a little twirl in her very revealing cheerleading uniform. "Nice..."

"I'm so looking forward for tomorrow night." She said, a finger on his chest, smiling in a would-be seductive way.

"Good, I'm glad. I am too. What are you doing that's so exciting then?"

Her face fell slightly, but her smile soon returned ever bright, and she turned her head to the others. "He likes to play, does our Jason." She turned back to and hit him on the chest slightly. "It's your birthday party, silly. And I have the cutest little outfit picked out. I am sure that you'll like it." She continued and bit her lower lip, and tilted her head to the side slightly.

Jason laughed and held her at arms length. "Ryan, I'm glad that you're looking forward to it, but you're not coming." Her face fell, and she mouthed, 'what?' "And my mom says if she finds you loitering around our house again, shell call the cops."

"But Jase... I brought a new outfit, she said pouting.

"That's nice. But you're not coming to my party. I'm not your ticket to Superman, Ryan. If you want to see him that badly, rob a bank." It took her a few seconds to understand what he was saying, and then, with a huff, she stormed off, the rest of the 'Bimbo army' in toll. Jason then turned to the new girl, who was sitting on the bench still, a somewhat bemused expression on her face. "Hi." He said as he extended his hand, "I'm Jason."

She took it. "Amethyst."

"I've never heard that used as a name before..."

"It was my mother's favorite stone. Um... Thanks for getting rid of them for me. They're..."

"The worst company a person would have to endure, ever. No problem. As a human I couldn't allow them to speak to you." She smiled and leaned over to pick up the book on Mozart.

"Oh, Happy birthday, by the way." She said nodding, closing the book and resting it on her lap.

"Thanks. The big One Eight."

"Oh, been there, done that... well last month." She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled, nodding nervously. "What was, if you don't mind me asking, what were you talking about with Ryan, was it, um, about Superman?"

Jason chuckled slightly and ran his fingers through his dark hair, "My mom's Lois Lane." Amethst's eyes widened in awe, but there was some horror and fear there as well that he couldn't quite understand. "She interviews Superman, and they know each other. On a strictly business level, he added quickly. "And girls like Ryan think that by pretending to be infatuated with me, they'll get closer to him. Luckily, girls like Ryan aren't very good at hiding their primary intentions, so it's very easy to suss them out quickly."

She smiled. "That's good. Her face though... when you told her she wasn't going to your party. Priceless."

"Yeah... definitely a Kodak moment. And, um, about that party. Would you like to come?" She raised her eyebrows. "It would be a great way to meet some new friends; there are nice, intelligent people in this school. Who like good music."

"Oh, I dunno, I have a lot of unpacking to do..."

"I'm sure your mom and dad won't mind." She looked like she was about to say something but didn't. "I'd like you to be there, but I'm not going to force you."

Amethyst nodded and bit her lip in a thoughtful manner, completely different to the way Ryan had done. "Alright. Where is it?" Smiling, he gave her the address and the time it started. "Ok, I'll see you there... I'll find it... somehow." She laughed.

"Good." Jason nodded, and then he walked away to see Tim still standing there, looking rather impatient. He jogged up to meet him. "Sorry about that..." He trailed off; his eyes fixed through the school gates and across the road. He shook his head, blinked, and looked again to see the man walking quickly away. Jason took a deep breath.

It was nothing, He was seeing things, eyes playing tricks on him, stress... a side effect of the large pizza with extra cheese he had the night before. Yes... that must be it. They always said not to eat cheese before bed time. It would explain the nightmare he'd had as well.

"Jason!" Tim was was calling. Jason ignored him Even though he tried to explain it, he couldn't. Jason's eyesight was brilliant, better than any human's, second only to Superman himself. He knew what he had seen.

The only question was. What was Lex Luthor doing outside a high school?

TBC...


End file.
